Knitting-machine



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- a Sheets-Sheet 1-. 0. E. KELLEY. Knitting Machine.

Patented Feb. 8,1881.

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Knitting Machine.

No. 237,545. Pi H Patented Feb. 8,1881.

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NPEIERS PNOTD-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D Cv (No Model.) a Sheets$heet a. O. E. KELLEY;

Knitting Machine.

No. 237,546. Patented Feb. 8, I881. a l'|5:4.

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UNITED" STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES E. KELLEY, OF HYDE PARK, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE TWOMBLY KNITTING MACHINE COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

MACHINE.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,546, dated February 8, 1881.

Application filed June 5, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. KELLEY, of Hyde Park, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve- 5 went in Knitting-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to knitting-machines, and is an improvement upon that class of cir- Io cular machines represented in United States Patents No. 141,836, No. 173,086, and No; 229,288, to which reference may be had.

My invention consists in a circular needleholding bed and latched needles therein, and

r 5 a cam-carrying disk, its drawing-in cam and its throwing-out cam, having a radially-movable cain-point, combined with means to both rotate and reciprocate the said cam-carrying disk when knitting, and with shifting devices 20 and intermediate connections, to automatically withdraw the point of the said throwing-out cam as it reaches the end of the knittingstroke, to thus obviate throwing out and knitting upon the last needle of the series of nee- 2 5 dles then being knitted upon for that course,

i as hereinafter explained.

The cam-point is drawn back at such period during thereciprocation of the cam-disk as will enable it to avoid throwing out that one I 30 of the needles being used for flat knitting or narrowing and widening, which at the last fiatcourse, when the cam-disk was moving in the same direction, was the last needle knitted upon, the said cam-point failing to move that 5 needle out far enough to cause its latch to pass through the loop held upon its shank and knit. The needles of the said course, which arepassed over by the said cam when the point is withdrawn, are moved out for but a 0 short distance, not far enough, however, to pass their latches through the loops on their knitted into the web. The point of the said throwing-out cam is fitted into a groove made in the body of the said cam, and is connected by a screw with a lever pivoted upon the upper side of the cam-disk, the said screw being extended through a slot in the cam-disk. This lever, ator near the end of each fiat course,

is moved backward, as described, and with it the cam-point, and there held until, on the return motion of the cam-disk, it is thrown out, 6 to enable the cam-point to throw forward the needle which is to be used for the first needle of the flat course then to be knit. This lever is acted upon by suitable shifting devices adjustably connected with what I herein denomi- 6 nate the dial for heel and toe knitting, it being similar in function and purpose to the socalled pattern-plate of the said Patent No. 229,288.

Other features of my invention are specitic- 7O ally set out and claimed at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 represents, in perspective, a knittingmachine embodying my improvements, the single lines below the needle-holding disk being supposed to represent a knitted tube, the parts being supposed to be moving in the direction of the arrow in the said figure and on its first course for heel or toe knitting; Fig. 2, a plan view showing the machine without yarn, so all but one needle being removed Fig. 3, an under-side view of the dial for heel and toe knitting, showing the grooves in the cam shifting devices; Fig. 4, an under-side view of the cam-disk, showing the cam-point withdrawn, 8 as it will be when it is to pass and not fully throw out the needles to pass their latches through the loops on their shanks, the dotted lines showing the cam-point in the position it will occupy when thrown out to do knitting. 0 Fig. 5 is a detail of parts of the upper side of the cam-disk and dial for heel and toe knitting, the lever for moving the cam-pointbeing in position to keep thecam-point fully thrown out; Fig. 6, a detail of the same parts just as 5 the lever and cam have been thrown back; Fig. 7, yet another view, showingthecam-disk yet farther moved in thedirection of the arrow thereon, the lever being back and the campoint withdrawn. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 are edge :00

views of Figs. 5, 6, and 7; Fig. 11, a detail of the cam-point and devices connected with it; Fig. 12, a detail showing the yarn-delivering eye, from which the yarn passes into the hooks of the needles 5 and Fig. 13 is a modification of my invention applied to a cylinder machine of the Bickt'ord and Franz and Pope class.

The grooved needle-carrying bed a, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as a disk,) to receive the usual latched needles, I), the rotating or reciprocating cam-disk 0, the connected adjustable drawing-in cams d e, to regulate the length of knitted loops, the spur-wheel f, the arm g, to carry it, the bobbin-carrying arm h, the yarndelivering eyepiece i, and yarn-guide j, are substantially the same as in the said Twombly patent, No. 17 3,086.

The crank 70, its attached bevel-gear l, and the bevel-gear m, driven byit, placed loosely on the stud n and connected with the cam-disk c,

the said stud a holding the needle-disk, the

against which the butts of the needles rest when drawnin, are all as in a machine made and sold by the Twombly Knitting Machine Company; so I lay no claim to any of the said devices.

The throwing-out cam is designated by the letter s. Instead of being made with a rigid point, as in the Twombly patent, No. 173,086,

its point t is made as a separate block inserted in a groove at one side of the said throwing out cam, (see Fig. 4,) so that the said point may be thrown out and kept out permanently, as in dotted lines, Fig. 4, when circular or round-about knitting is being done; or it may be retracted for a short time, as in full lines,

during the completion and commencement of each reciprocation of the cam-disk when narrowing and widening, for knitting heels, toes, &c.

I am aware that United States Patent No.

229,288, June 29, 1880, shows a knitting-machine in which the point of the throwing-in cam, or cam for controlling the length of loop for each stitch, has been made movable radially in a cam-block but such a cam, it will be obvious, is totally different in function and purpose from the throwing-out cam, and the said cam in the Twombly patent cannot, nor is it designed to, pass and not operate a needle, ashereinprovidedfor. Thiscam-pointtis fixed to the point-moving lever 20 by the screw it, which is extended through the slot :0, made in the cam-disk c. This lever to is pivoted at a upon the disk 0, and has apost, b upon which is pivoted the catch 0 which is acted upon at its right-hand end by a spring, d The spring so acts upon the said catch as to cause its other or left-hand end to enter a notch, 0 in the disk 0, when the leverw, inits movements, brings the said catch over the said notch, thus locking the lever in position and holding the cam-point projected. This lever has a stud, 9 extended upward far enough to enter the grooves 20 of the shifting devices 71. 6 herein shown as adjustable grooved blocks provided with books 21 21. The said blocks are slotted to embrace the edge of the dial j and are provided with screws or studs 28, to enter agroove, 29, made at the upper side of the dial j This dial has a series of holes, which, on the upper side of the dial, will preferably be numbered, as in Fig. 2. These holes are separated a distance equal to the distance of one needle from another, and the dial j is fixed upon the stud a. Each block h 2' has a movable pin, 31, which extends through it and one of the series of numbered holes in the dial, to hold the said blocks in adjusted position on the dial.

When a protuberance is to be knitted in a circular web by a narrowing and widening operation, for heel or toe work, the machine is threaded, as indicated in Fig. 1, and the shifting devices It i are applied, as in Figs. 1 and 2.- As so applied the cam-disk 0 can be turned only for such a distance in one and then in the other direction as will permit the throwingout cam to operate half the needles of the series of needles, for at substantially each semirevolution of the cam-disk a pin or stud, m upon it meets one or the other of the books 21 21, carried by the said shifting devices, and stops the further movement of the said disk, at a point, however, two or three needles beyond the last needle upon which it is desired to knit, so as to enable the yarn in the return movement of the disk and yarn-guide z to lay its yarn correctly about the needle which is to be used for the end of the row next to be knitted, the take-up 0 operating to control the slack yarn.

' By withdrawing the pins 31 after the completion of each movement of the cam -disk, and moving the shifting devices on the dial in the direction of the increasing numbers 1 to 19 the distance of one hole, and then again locking them in place by the pins, the camdisk may be stopped one needle-space sooner at the end of each movement; or, by an opposite adjustment in the direction 19 to 1, the cam-disk will move one needle-space farther at each movement, thus automatically determining the number of needles knitted upon, for widening and narrowing in the usual manner.

When the cam-point is thrown out to move the needles out far enough to knit, as is the case during all the time the stud g is moving between the blocks k W, the catch 0 is held in the notch e but as the cam-disk, in either direction of its movement, arrives at the under side of one or the other of the said shifting devices 71. W, the said device strikes the raised end of the catch 0 and lifts it from the notch 6 so as to free the lever w, and then the stud g enters one or the other of the grooves or inclined passages 20, and the further movement of the cam-disk 0 causes the said stud, as it is passed into one of the said grooves at one side and out at the other side, to withdraw the lever w into the position shown in Figs. 6, 7,

and 2, where it is permitted to rest while the cam-disk c is moved yet farther, far enough to bring the pin or stud m against one or the other of the hooks 21 21. The lever is released andis so acted upon by the said shifting devices, when the cam-disk is being moved to complete a narrowing or widening, as to withdraw the point of the cam just before it reaches the last needle, which, in the previous course knitted in the same direction, was the last needle of the series to knit, this needle being thereby not thrown out far enough to knit.

The lever to and cam-point are held locked in this position during the remainder of the movement of the said dial in that direction, and on the return movement of the said dial, as soon as the cam-point 2? passes beyond the needle which it was made to pass over and not throw out, as just described, it will be immediately thrown out by the groove in the said shifting device, and be made to throw fully out the next needle to it toward the numbered hole 19, if narrowing, thus enabling the thread guide or delivery 6 to wrap its thread aboutit, that needle so thrown out acting as the first needle of the series of needles to be knitted upon for that course.

Making the point of the cam movable, as above described, avoids the employment of the so-called switch-cams, as commonly used in the Bickford and Franz and Pope machines.

It is obvious that a throwing-out cam of the kind herein shown and two drawing-in cams, like at 01, might be applied to the inner face of a cam-cylinder of the Bickford class of machine and actuate the needles in the manner hereinbetore set forth at the end of each narrowing and Widening course, as in Fig. 13.

In the claims, by the word cam-disk I intend also to include its equivalent, the camcylinder shown in Fig. 13.

The shifting devices will be moved one step on the dial, in one or the other direction, according to whether the operator is narrowing or widening a heel or toe.

In the drawings, Fig. 1, it was considered unnecessary to show the loops of knitted work on each needle.

I do not broadly claim a movable cam adapted by its adjustment to change the positions of the needles from common ribbed to plaited ribbed work, or for making tighter or looser stitches, as in United States Patent No. 68,107

nor do I claim such cams as are used in United States Patent No. 147,7 72. In both the said machines knitting is done by moving the machine parts forward continuously in but one direction, and therefore they would not need a throwing-out cam such as I herein employ.

I claim- 1. The grooved circular needle-holding bed and latched needles therein, and the cam-carrying disk, its drawing-in cam and its throwing-out cam, having the radially-movable campoint 15, combined with means to both rotate and reciprocate the said camcarrying disk when knitting, and with shiitingdevices'and intermediate connections to automatically withdraw the point of the said throwing-out cam as the said cam reaches the end of the knitting-stroke, to obviate throwing out and knitting upon the last needle of the series of needles then being knitted upon for that course, substantially as described.

2. The grooved needle-bed and series of reciprocatin g needles, and the carrying-disk, the drawin g-in cam and the throwingout cam, and a movable point, t, combined with the lever with which the said cam-pointt is connected, a catch carried by the said lever to lock it in position when the cam-point is thrown out, and with means to automatically shift the said lever, and cam-point, drawing it in before the cam-disk reaches the end of its reciprocation,

and then throwing it out after the cam-disk has commenced to travel over the needles in the opposite direction, to operate as and for the purpose described.

3. The dial-plate provided with a series of holes, the adjustable shifting devices fitted thereto and provided each with a groove and a' hooked arm, and a pin to hold the shifting devices in adjusted position, combined with the cam-disk, the lever to, pivoted thereon and connected with the cam-point, and the pin m to stop the disk at different positions, as desired, when narrowing and widening, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. E. KELLEY. "Witnesses:

JOHN W. 'AsHMAN, ORSON TwoMBLY. 

